TRUTH ABOUT ZEPPELINS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 32, 7 February 1916, Page 4

TRUTH ABOUT ZEPPELINS.

The War Office's latest announcement j about the Zeppelin r- 1 has a touch oil eflfectiva irony not common in euch | statements. After stating the extent of j the damage and the number of easiial-'j ties, it gives the total of casualties in i air raids in Britain since the beginning of the war, and compares' the slaughter: of civilians by this method with the death-roll in the anking of the Luaitania. In twenty-nine air-raids, 266 i people having been killed, while 1,198 i were drowned as the result of one dia- | bolical act by the enemy. The Zeppelin j raids, says the statements, must there- : fore be "comparatively disappointing to their promoters." Perhaps they are, but the German public is well gulled by its nikrs on this subject. A neutral who recently visited Germany and contributed his highly interesting impression to the "Times/ , says of the Germans' faith in Zeppelins: "Just as in England you are a little inclined to exj aggerate the immediate economic difficulties of the Germane, so the Germans altogether misunderstand your attitude towards Zeppelins and submarines. Because I had been present in London on the occasion of the Zeppelin raid of September 8 I was always received with interest and curiosity by those who knew of the fact Ten years of exaggerated optimism with regard to Zeppelins have so convinced the Germans of the •'frightening' effect of these machines that a large number of educated Germane believe that in the long run attacks on London will end the war. I ridiculed the notion, but with not much result, for when a German is face to I face with a flat contradiction of that which ho believes he grows angry."

It -will, therefore, take much more than War Office statements to make the Germans realise that the Zeppelin is over-rated. A few more disasters like that in the North Sea would have much more effect. "It is in England itself that the official figures should produce a good effect. The public has taken these raids with their terror and death, in a splendid spirit, but there are indications of overexcitement; and a desire to force the hynds of the Government into reprisals. In the face of the murders committed by the Zeppelins, it may seem callous to say that the loss of life they cause is trifling but it is true when one remembers the numbers of soldiers and civilians that have fallen in the war. When the German squadron bombarded East Coast towns 140 people were killed and nearly 400 injured in less than an hoar. Writin<* of last summer's war in the air Mr" Buchan saye that the Zeppelin campai<rn which was undertaken for two pnrposW strategically sound, failed almost ludicrously in both, and this opinion, stands to-day. But if public opinion in England forces the Government to take measures that are strategically unsound the Germans will have achieved part of one purpose. The Government is as good a judge as anyone of the advisability of reprisals, and it alone knows whether aircraft can bo spared for sucti work, without interfering with more important operations.